# This week's obligatory Bush gaff. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 27, 2004, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259 "2004-04-27T11:18:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/1 "2004-04-27T11:18:07Z")
“We rank 10th amongst the industrialized world in broadband technology and its availability. That’s not good enough for America. Tenth is 10 spots too low as far as I’m concerned.” With Bush, USA is #0. What an idiot the man is. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/2 "2004-04-27T11:22:20Z")
Wow. Another Bush rant. Whodathunkit? ---
**Author:** ![Gest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Gest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gest)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/3 "2004-04-27T11:37:41Z")
He’s great isn’t he? Let’s hope he gets kicked the fuck out and then, ideally, he’d go and write for the Daily Show or Letterman. He has immense value as a clown and absolutely none as anything else. His presidency has been a cruel joke that only highlights the fact. ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/4 "2004-04-27T11:58:40Z")
Okay, as much disdain as I have for the man, I still find this a very weak rant. Stuff like this just makes us Bush-disdainers look like petty bullies. Save it for the good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/5 "2004-04-27T12:51:28Z")
Well, you know, GeeDubya claimed to have invented broadband. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/6 "2004-04-27T12:55:56Z")
Of course, if he said “9 spots too low” half the country would be saying “He wants us to be second? Second to who?” ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/7 "2004-04-27T13:13:33Z")
Shouldn’t that be “gaffe”? ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/8 "2004-04-27T13:25:43Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > Shouldn’t that be “gaffe”? No. This is indeed the obligatory weekly Bush ‘spear or spearhead for taking fish or turtles’. He comes out with a new one every week. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/9 "2004-04-27T13:29:33Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > Shouldn’t that be “gaffe”? Damn you, ironic karmic retribution! Note to self: Must stop “bullying” Dubya, most powerful man on planet. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/10 "2004-04-27T13:30:06Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > Shouldn’t that be “gaffe”? No, it was supposed to be “me **gaf** lop”. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/11 "2004-04-27T13:38:57Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > No. This is indeed the obligatory weekly Bush ‘spear or spearhead for taking fish or turtles’. He comes out with a new one every week. Really. Ha, you scoff to soon. I of course meant that Bush has picked up some London slang from his well-known barrow-boy pal Blair. It’s a reference to his latest gaff. What I believe other Americans would refer to as his ‘crib’. He buys a new place every week. Really. Trouble is he can’t get broadband installed and this isn’t good enough for the world’s number zero nation. Sorry everyone, this weak rant is just getting weaker. Still think he’s an idiot though. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/12 "2004-04-27T13:56:15Z")
Idiocy is as idiocy does. When you’re the President of the United States, get back to us. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/13 "2004-04-27T16:06:09Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > Ha, you scoff to soon. “To soon”? **Gaudere** ’s Law strikes again. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/14 "2004-04-27T16:08:59Z")
Wow, Karma is a real bitch in this thread. It’s not a rant-worthy mistake by any stretch, but it’s an amusing screwup. I think it’d be funny whichever side of the aisle you’re on, but maybe that’s not how things are working these days. Anyhoo… ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/15 "2004-04-27T17:08:47Z")
That’s odd, and familiar - since I work in code so much of the time now sometimes I catch myself numbering things from zero up (since anyone who know their computer isn’t really run by a little gerbil knows that in C/C++ most arrays start at “0”. Of course in FORTRAN they start at “1”…in Ada maybe they start with “e”, who knows?). Maybe Bush has been working a double shift hyped-up on Jolt cola and diet pills writing some serious wicked .NET apps and is still thinking in programming terms? I’ll wait and see if he refers to the missing WMDs as a “memory leak”… I agree, however, that if he had said “9 spots too low” the average American rabble wouldn’t have got that either. Moo. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/16 "2004-04-27T17:14:38Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Of course, if he said “9 spots too low” half the country would be saying “He wants us to be second? Second to who?” You don’t think they would say: “Second to who **m** ”? How stoopid do you think Americans are? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/17 "2004-04-27T17:28:57Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > You don’t think they would say: “Second to who **m** ”? Whaddya think I am, some fancy English butler? I’m an American, dammit! I like my beer cold and watery, my guns loaded, and my sentences grammatically incorrect! USA! USA! USA! ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/18 "2004-04-27T17:35:29Z")
Or perhaps he was just approximating. I wouldn’t quibble if the number had been 100, I’m not getting worked up about it when it’s 10. Though it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/19 "2004-04-27T18:31:17Z")
I laughed out loud at the thread title. People looked at me weirdly. And yes, I think it’s an attempt not to confuse the inattentive. I also suspect that he says “nukular” to sound more folksy. If it was a mistake, his staff would have corrected him. It’s still pretty funny, though. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259/20 "2004-04-27T19:49:49Z")
> [@Libertarian](#): > > When you’re the President of the United States, get back to us. I’m working on it, but Diebold refuses to return my calls… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-obligatory-bush-gaff/242259.md?page=2)